Enhanced ethanol sensing properties of WO$_{3}$ modified TiO$_{2}$ nanorods

Authors: BEKZAT ABDIKADYR, ALP KILIÇ, ONUR ALEV, SERKAN BÜYÜKKÖSE, ZAFER ZİYA ÖZTÜRK

Abstract: Pristine and WO$_{3}$ decorated TiO$_{2}$ nanorods (NRs) were synthesised to investigate n-n-type heterojunction gas sensing properties. TiO$_{2}$ NRs were fabricated via hydrothermal method on fluorine-doped tin oxide coated glass (FTO) substrates. Then, tungsten was sputtered on the TiO$_{2}$ NRs and thermally oxidised to obtain WO$_{3}$ nanoparticles. The heterostructure was characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. Fabricated sensor devices were exposed to VOCs such as toluene, xylene, acetone and ethanol, and humidity at different operation temperatures. Experimental results demonstrated that the heterostructure has better sensor response toward ethanol at 200 °C. Enhanced sensing properties are attributed to the heterojunction formation by decorating TiO$_{2}$ NRs with WO$_{3}$.

Keywords: WO$_{3}$/TiO$_{2}$, gas sensor, heterostructure, nanorods, ethanol

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